Thanks for the great reply. Just a quick update. I am still currently on the waitlist for a US MD school while starting the DO application for the next cycle. I have also been accepted to UQ's MD program and waiting to hear back from ANU. So the problem with solution 1) is that the timeline doesn't quite match up and I probably will have to make decisions before actually hearing back from all my options.
In terms of location I want to live/practice in the long term... Honestly I don't know. I grew up living in 4-5 different countries so I am quite open to living anywhere really. Australia seems great but I am worried about having a hard time becoming a PR and being able to properly practice. The US is where I am probably the most familiar but now you make it seem like getting residencies are more difficult that what I expected. I was always under the impression that international students doing medical school in the US mostly had to figure out how to get into medical school. Residencies would not be as much of a problem. Where you part of a residency admission committee or are we talking about more anecdotal information? If what you say is true, then I might be in deeper trouble than what I thought. Since I am already having such a hard time getting into medical school in the US as an international student, things don’t look good for residency matches.
On a side note, Taiwan views either degree relatively favorably but ideally I wouldn’t want to go back to practice.
I also have a couple follow-up questions.
1) PR after starting MD: I understand that international students trying to work in Australia need to perform the 10 year service to actually be able to practice freely. How does that work if you get PR status say, during your MD year or even halfway while you are performing the 10 years? Still stuck with finishing the time?
2) Advance training time in AU: This is probably just me not understanding how medical training work in Australia, but I was under the impression that one would only have to spend 1 year doing what is equivalent as residency and one would then gain licensing. This thread makes it appear that residency training is longer in Australia than the 2-3 years in the US. What am I missing here?
3) Residency difficulty in the US: I mentioned it already, but I really would like to know how difficult it is for one to get into a residency program in the US as a foreigner if they graduate from US Medical school? I am not talking about highly competitive specialties like ophthalmology or dermatology. I am thinking about something more mid-range, say ER.
Sorry for the long post. Any help would be great. I appreciate all your time.
Saw your post from the other thread haha. Im actually a us citizen who got my AUS PR last year.
How the training works in Australia is that once you graduate from med school, you will do your internship. You are not focusing on any specific type of medicine such as internal med, psychiatry, surgery, etc. as you would in the states. The internship years arent the same as a residency in the States (where you automatically be a resident unless you get into Prelim)
During your internship years, you are considered a "house officer." Unless i am mistaken, PGY1=JHO, PGY2=SHO, PGY3 and beyond=PHO.
While you are a house officer, you will do rotations as you would in med school. At the same time, you will also be studying for your speciality exams to become a registrar. A registrar in Australia is basically what we consider someone doing residency in the States and can take anywhere from 3-5 additional years. You can apply for the exam anytime during your house years. Only after you finish training as a registrar do you become a "consultant" which is analogous to an Attending Physician in the States
So all in all, if you count the number of years needed after med school, you'll be looking at least another 5 years of training after med school, not including if you want to do additional fellowships.
As for getting residency in the States as a foreigner, you would have to take the same exams (Step 1, step 2CK/CS, step3), but if you don't have citizenship you'll need to find programs that will sponsor you for a visa. This is usually the hard part for foreigners applying to residency in the states as programs can be iffy on wanting to sponsor your visa when they have a lot of people applying. I imagine the PDs can be more forgiving in giving visas if you get amazing scores on your steps, however.
tl;dr:
In Australia----------| Equivalent to the US
Internship Years (up to 3 years usually)-----|Doesn't Exist
-PGY1--JHO
-PGY2--SHO
-PGY3 and beyond--PHO
Registrar following Internship (from 3-5 yrs)-----|Residency
Consultant following Registrar (finished training)-----|Attending Physician